Cardiff vs Villa: Player Ratings

I gave myself a little distance between the final whistle and scoring this lot. I thought it would soothe some of the wounds.

It didn’t. Dreadful. It is the kind of match that makes me question life decisions.

It is only the second match of the league and only August and blah...blah...blah...blah... that was terrible. Feel bad for the traveling away fans — you guys are fantastic and a credit to the club. Players/Manager — you stunk it up today. Do better.

Here are the full player ratings -- based on a scale of 1 to 10, with five being average and not a bad rating at all

GK: Sam Johnstone, Rating: 6

It had the start of a mare — early on from a long range shot Johnstone flubbed the catch and the ball nearly went in before it was captured by the keeper. After that he made a slew of saves including four or five that were not simple ones. Allowing three goals is never good — but it could have been five or six without some decent keeping.

RB: Alan Hutton, Rating: 1

I don’t believe in negative ratings or zeros. I did almost create the rating of “Dumpster Fire”. But this was (expletive deleted) awful. Beaten numerous times, failed to control the ball in the box which led to one goal. Stuck in no-man’s land on the another goal. And going forward — Hutton killed attacks single-handed by giving the ball away or dribbling in a circle apparently trying to dig a hole to hide in. Terrible.

CB: James Chester, Rating: 3

Surprisingly poor. Probably the worst match he has played in the a Villa kit. Probably should have scored with his head in the 51’ — but he has been taking practice with Andre Green and put the ball into the ground — then off the bar. Forced to spend alot of effort covering for Terry on the left, Hutton on the right. So here he was.... stuck in the middle of the poo.

CB: John Terry, Rating: 3

Caught up field multiple times (especially on the second goal) and doesn’t have the speed to make up for being out of position. Marshaled the team decently on set pieces but bullied in open play along.

LB: Neil Taylor, Rating: 5

Had a goal line clearance that saved further blushes for Villa. Picked up a yellow card giving away a dangerous free kick. On the whole was not as bad as the rest of the squad — especially considering there was no one playing in front of him.

RM: Ahmed Elmohamady, Rating: 5 (subbed off, 31’)

Looked somewhat lively but forced off after picking up a mouth injury that may require surgery. Nasty sounding that.

CM: Glenn Whelan, Rating: 4

Anonymous — when he wasn’t giving the ball away. Really needs to cover the backline more especially when he realizes how poorly they are playing. Need the return of Jedi now.

CM: Josh Onomah, Rating: 5 (subbed off, 77’)

One of the few Villa bright spots -- and he isn’t actually a Villa player. Made a few nice passes and dribbles — loved the great spin move in 29’ to get by a man near the corner which led to a (wasted) free kick. Gave the ball away a few times — but less so than others. Subbed off before the end — which makes sense because he played a full 90’ earlier this week and should start Tuesday.

LM/RM/CM/CF (?): Gabby Agbonhalor, Rating: 3

What position is he playing? Does he know? Was all over the pitch — and not in a good way. Wasteful with the ball (when he managed to get it). Had a couple good flick-ons with his head that were some stand out moments for the wandering player. Rating would go up by 1 if he was just doing what the manager asked him to do — go out and run around on the pitch without a position.

CAM: Henri Lansbury, Rating: 4 (subbed off, 58’)

Maddeningly inconsistent. Had a few very good passes spreading the ball around. Had more than a few simple passes that he just screwed up. Cheaply giving the ball away in the midfield is a great way to hand the other team scoring opportunities. That is what happened and Lansbury deserves blame for some of that. Also wasted all of the free kicks and the corners that he took. Henri has to be better if this Villa team are going to move forward.

ST: Scott Hogan, Rating: 4

All action but really has to take one of the two early chances. Hogan at least forced a save with the second chance in the third minute (that served as Villa’s only shot on target). Chased balls down and was clearly the target of many long passes — most of which were not good. Tired and really needed to be subbed out.

Substitutes:

RM Albert Adomah, Rating: 5 (31’ sub)

Offered a decent option down the right. Needs to find some kind of connection with Hogan

CM Callum O’Hare, Rating: 5 (58’ sub)

Came on right before the second goal put the match away. Probably should have tracked better on the third. Was all over the pitch (in a good way) and offers a hopeful glimpse of Villa in the future. Hopefully he and Onomah can push each other on to higher performances.

CM Conor Hourihane, Rating: NA (77’ sub)

Game was gone when the Irishman was sent on.

Honorable mention:

AVTV, rating 7 (machine of the match)

For the curtain raiser of a new video streaming system — it worked very well. Couple of issues here and there. The camera should zoom out a tad. ASV is a stupid abbreviation for Aston Villa. When going to a replay put some kind of transition in so make it a little less jarring. But on the whole — best performance of the day.

Past Ratings:

Hull

Colchester United